And the Winner Is… Reader’s Choice for Top 10 Fantasy and Sci-Fi Movie Quotes

And the winner in the category “Top 10 Fantasy and Sci-Fi Movie Quote,” as selected by the readers of GeekDad, is “I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that.” from 2001: A Space Odyssey

Our readers nominated 36 quotes from science fiction and fantasy films. They voted 3,269 times (and these votes represented 38 countries). Now, the results are in for the Top 10 Fantasy and Sci-Fi Movie Quotes of all time.

In the Number One spot, the winner… as selected by the readers of GeekDad… is…

Wow. I would not have expected this 1968 Stanley Kubrick film to still hold sway over the Geekverse. Bravo. The line is spoken by HAL 9000, the on-board computer on the Discovery One spacecraft. Dave Bowman, one of the astronauts, demands that HAL let his smaller reconnaissance craft back into the larger ship. “Open the pod bay doors, HAL,” he asks. The villainous HAL won’t let him back in. That memorable line, “I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that,” encapsulated all that humankind feared about the computer age. Yes, robots did take over the world.

Here’s how the Top 10 went down, in rank, number of votes and percentage of total vote:

15. “What do you mean? An African or European swallow?” Monty Python and the Holy Grail: 90, 2.75

16. “I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.” Blade Runner: 87, 2.66

17. “Get away from her, you bitch!” Aliens: 87, 2.66

18. “Game over, man, game over!” Aliens: 84, 2.57

19. “What is best in life? To crush your enemies, see them driven before you and to hear the lamentation of their women.” Conan the Barbarian (1982): 78, 2.39

20. “E.T. phone home.” E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial: 71, 2.17

21. “Good. Bad. I’m the guy with the gun.” Army of Darkness: 65, 1.99

22. “One does not simply walk into Mordor. Its black gates are guarded by more than just orcs. There is evil there that does not sleep, and the Great Eye is ever watchful. It is a barren wasteland, riddled with fire and ash and dust, the very air you breathe is a poisonous fume. Not with ten thousand men could you do this. It is folly.” The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring: 48, 1.47

Writer, journalist, poet and geek Ethan Gilsdorf is the author of Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks: An Epic Quest for Reality Among Role Players, Online Gamers, and Other Dwellers of Imaginary Realms. More info fantasyfreaksbook.com or follow on Facebook fantasyfreaksbook .